Authorities uncovered a sophisticated ATM skimming ring in North Texas, charging two suspects tied to an organized crime group. NBC 5’s Keenan Willard has more.
State law enforcement officials say they broke up a sophisticated credit card skimming ring that would have robbed North Texans of more than $5 million.
Officials say two suspects have been charged with placing skimming devices on ATMs across the Metroplex.
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WATCH HERECourt documents obtained by NBC 5 show one of the suspects arrested was wanted on a $200,000 bond out of California and had been labeled a possible national security threat by officials.
The Texas Financial Crimes Intelligence Center said two Romanian nationals have been charged with running an ATM skimmer ring in North Texas.
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SIGN UP Investigators said Petruta Ciuperca and Alexandru Constantin were caught on camera at multiple convenience stores across the Metroplex placing devices on ATMs that steal credit card information.
“So what happens is they’re recording your credit card information constantly, and at some point what they’ll do is they’ll send that information over to the bad guys,” said Alex del Carmen, a criminal justice expert. “And they’ll use that information to create false credit cards.”
In arrest warrants obtained by NBC 5, officers said, “Criminal ATM skimming suspects are very organized criminal organizations… they constantly travel, not staying in any one location for long… in recent cases… these groups have frequently utilized Airbnb rentals and rental cars.”
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“The fact that they’re highly mobile, the fact that they go from one Airbnb to a hotel room on to an apartment that they rent for perhaps a week in the entire United States, it becomes a needle in a haystack,” said del Carmen.
The arrest affidavit said investigators also learned Ciuperca was already wanted for fraud in Los Angeles and had been deemed a possible national security threat.
Police said they tracked the suspects to a rental apartment on West Pioneer Drive in Irving.
Officers said a search warrant executed at the home found “a fully operational credit card skimmer factory,” including hundreds of credit cards altered with stolen information, more than $16,000 in cash, and the materials to make ATM skimmers.
Ciuperca is now being held on a $120,000 bond, and Constantin on a $76,000 bond.
“This is really good law enforcement,” said del Carmen. “A lot of effort I’m sure went into this, a lot of intelligence went into this.”
Investigators said they had also identified a third suspect connected to the ring but had not yet released a name.
